2001, a Two-Dollar Card, and What I Learned from My Mother

Carmen owns Fosetter, our Canadian ginseng and dried-goods shop in Montreal's Chinatown. Here she remembers arriving in 2001, and what she learned from her mother.

I came over in 2001. That was early. Back then there weren't many Chinese people arriving, and the ones who were here mostly spoke Cantonese. Lots of Cantonese.

Two dollars for a card

I really can't forget that time. There was a Chinese service centre, and it cost two dollars to open a card. Or was it one dollar? Whenever something came up, I ran over there. I didn't know English, I didn't know French, so I filled out my forms there.

The card was a service card, a real membership, with your own number. And it was handwritten.

Between people back then, the help we gave each other, the mutual help among overseas Chinese, was very, very strong.

She's also the one who did the cooking at home. My mother is really something.

Bringing her over

After I came here, I applied for my mother. About two and a half years later there was news, and in the fourth year she came over and we were together again. That was very fast. I really have to thank my mother.

She never added her opinion

Sometimes, when there was something I wanted to do, my mother never really stepped in with her opinion.

Because of that, I'm very relaxed with the next generation. I don't pressure my two kids to become this or that, or to be better at this or that. I let them do their own thing.

When it comes to raising kids, I really did learn from my mother.

Stubborn, and it works

If there's something I want to do, I don't really go around asking other people what they think. It's because my mother respected what each of us wanted for ourselves, so we could really grow into it.

In other people's eyes we're stubborn, very set on our own way. But with that stubbornness, that willpower, we kept pushing through one hurdle after another.

So a mother is very important. A mother's way of raising you is very important.

More of Carmen's story is in I Started Selling Popsicles at Seven. Or come meet Carmen at Fosetter, 78 Rue De La Gauchetière Ouest.